The other Quadrants had worked together to pull Military back together, and it was starting to function groggily. It watched the results of the scan and actually felt anger over the loss of life. “How did this happen?”
The Collective ignored the still-damaged Quadrant and wondered the same thing. Where were the ships? Nothing could have destroyed the hull material, yet they were not there. The Quadrants turned their attention to the Military Quadrant and asked, “Why did we not have ships ready to respond to emergencies?”
Military took a moment to gather the answer, “We had the fleet we sent to that planet. I asked how many to send and you ordered them all. How could we have known more than those sent would be needed?”
The Collective pondered the response, “We should always have ships outside drive bands to go where we need them.”
“It will be done in the future but as you know, all of our ships are used to transport food and are usually in orbit above their assigned farms.”
“Let me know how you plan to handle this in the future.”
“I’ll start work on it now.”
“Start on it later; I want all of you to watch the scans of the ships entering the place of our losses.”
The Collective turned its attention to the Director of the six ships entering the system of the recent battle. The six ships arrived in orbit, parked directly above the former garrison, and launched twenty attack craft. They swarmed down to the atmosphere and scanned for life; none was detected. The Collective ordered, “Land and tell me what you find on the surface.”
Ten attack craft landed at the garrison and another ten landed at the site of the colonies. There were Keepers lying dead from the garrison all the way to the hills just outside the colonies. Most of those on the surface were killed, but those still underground looked like they had just fallen down dead. Keepers were hit with explosive projectiles, blown apart by close explosions, and some were burned beyond recognition by some kind of beam. The Collective and the Quadrants watched it in the minds of the warriors on the planet’s surface and saw the ferocity of the combat that had taken place. Some of the beam platforms were still smoking and the crews were scattered around it. Some of the Keepers lying dead on the ground did not suffer severe enough injuries to have died, but every Keeper on the planet had lost their life.
The Science Quadrant said, “I believe that whatever that blue wave was that disrupted Military must have killed all those on the planet and in our fleet. Here at its source it must have been enormous.”
“Do you have any idea what it was?”
Science went into its databanks and responded, “Yes, I do. We have systematically eliminated any life form that possessed any mental powers. Those that had it in high levels released that blue color upon their death. Either a super strong psychic died or released its powers.”
“What do you mean, released?”
“We have studies that show a number of those with mental powers are not able to use them unless they are released by another person with mental powers. It has been millions of years since we recorded this phenomenon, mainly because we have killed any that demonstrated these powers. But we know that the stronger the powers, the larger the blue wave that follows release.”
“Are you saying that an individual had its powers released here on this planet?”
“It is the only thing that accounts for what we’ve recorded.”
“Where did this individual originate? Certainly not in the farm population?”
“It appears that they came after the ship was destroyed.” Science paused a moment and looked in the Military Quadrant and analyzed new data, “It also appears that the invaders are now able to hide their thoughts from our scanners.”
The Collective looked at Military’s data with Science and begrudgingly agreed. “You said that someone who also possessed mental powers would be needed to release this wave. None of our food could have possessed that kind of power.”
“You’re right. However, it was not one of the food that released this individual; we did it.”
The Collective looked again in Military’s information with Science and watched as the Warrior scanned and then touched one of the foods just before the first disruption hit. “How could we release this invader?”
“It was our combined connection with all of our Species that made it happen. The connection with trillions of us is extremely strong. The second blast was done by another invader that arrived when the combat started. They planned the final release just as our fleet arrived at the planet. It was that release that killed all of our warriors on and around the planet.”
Military asked, “Are we in danger of this wave being using against us?”
Science analyzed the data and responded, “Only if there is another individual with that magnitude of mental power and we are dumb enough to touch them. I don’t see how they could be released with anything but our combined mental connection. The being that was released here cannot cause that wave again.”
“Put that information into a form for all Quadrants to examine, and plan to discuss it next interval. Now; where is our fleet?” Silence greeted the question. “We can assume the crews were killed by that blue wave, but what happened to the ships?”
Science responded, “Perhaps we need to ask that question another way.”
“Such as?”
“If our crews were dead, we know no one could enter the ships from outside. That means they had to have been moved or disintegrated. The Question should be; what could destroy our ships?”
“Enough heat would do it,” Production answered. “We use high temperatures to mold the hulls.”
The Collective and all Quadrants looked at the star in the system. “Ship Director, make a detailed scan from the planet toward the system’s star.”
Two ships moved away from the planet and picked up speed as they broke out of orbit. “We have a reading of fuel across a wide band.”
“Fuel?”
“Yes. It’s very small, but is in a very wide band between the planet and the star.”
Science asked, “Is the fuel raw or burned?”
“Some of both.”
Military said, “They moved our ships into the star. They must have towed them.”
The Collective felt immediate nervousness, “How many ships did we send here?”
Military said, “We sent 400,000.”
“How long after the ships stopped reporting did we arrive in this system?”
“Six intervals.”
“Explain how our fleet could have been towed to the star and the ships used to move them could then get out of this system before we arrived? It’s ten intervals to the drive band from the planet, and they had to go another five intervals in-system to move our fleet. It also suggests that at least the number of our ships was used to move them. What does this tell us?”
Science answered, “They are not bound by the star drive limitation.”
The Collective and every Quadrant pondered that threat.
Military suddenly said, “What about our ships in the invader’s universe? We must warn them.”
“Do we have a ship outside the star drive band to send?”
“No; you told me to work on it later.”
The Collective ordered, “Send a ship from a system that has a small drive band.”
“It will still take five intervals.”
“Then get them moving; they must be warned.”
Values remained silent and knew trouble was not far away. It was becoming more difficult to hide the fear it felt.
Valerie and Jake arrived back in the Stars Realm and immediately received a com from Joe Gardner, “Your Majesty, the Keepers Fleet is now entering the Brayent System. The Cainth Colonists have launched ships to meet them coming in-system but have done no damage to the Keepers Fleet. What should we do?”